Among Firefighters In New York, Giuliani Is Both Hailed And Hated

Among Firefighters in New York, Giuliani Is Both Hailed and Hated

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/us...in&oref=slogin

By MICHAEL WILSON
Published: June 17, 2007

Their images are permanently etched in photographs after the fall of the World Trade Center towers, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and firefighters cloaked in the same gray dust. For months afterward, they stood together at funerals. Mr. Giuliani, in his eulogy, always asked for a round of applause to celebrate the dead firefighter’s life.

It would be easy to assume, then, that Mr. Giuliani can count on the support of the 11,000 men and women of the New York City Fire Department as he runs for president. But that would not be entirely true.

Interviews with more than 50 firefighters and department officers show a mix of admiration and disdain for the former mayor. Many firefighters praise his years in office, citing his success in reducing crime and his leadership after the terrorist attacks. Others harbor a resentment for what they describe as his poor treatment of the department before and after Sept. 11.

Some still speak bitterly about a contract that left firefighters without a raise for two years. Some also say Mr. Giuliani has exaggerated the role he played after the terrorist attacks, casting himself as a hero for political gain. The harshest sentiments stem from Mr. Giuliani’s decision nearly two months after 9/11 to reduce the number of firefighters who were allowed to search for colleagues in the rubble — a move that he partially reversed but that still infuriates many firefighters.

As his candidacy proceeds, Mr. Giuliani’s work on and after Sept. 11, his greatest strength in the eyes of many voters, will be scrutinized. The firefighters’ interviews indicate that in New York, at least, a critical evaluation has begun.

“I think they assume that we all love him,” said Robert Keys, 48, a battalion chief and 25-year department veteran, referring to people outside New York. “He wound up with this ‘America’s Mayor’ image. Those of us who had to deal with him before and after 9/11 don’t share that same sentiment.”

Daniel McCarthy, a 54-year-old firefighter, said Mr. Giuliani should be judged on more than just his relationship with firefighters. “Maybe he wasn’t great for the Fire Department,” Mr. McCarthy said. “But he was great for the city.”

On the campaign trail, Mr. Giuliani frequently invokes the Sept. 11 heroism of “my firefighters,” as he often calls them, as emblematic of American patriotism and resolve. But some firefighters have begun organizing efforts to dispel the notion that they are in his corner.

The International Association of Fire Fighters, an umbrella union based in Washington, spoke out against Mr. Giuliani in March. The group is also preparing a short DVD outlining its grievances that it plans to send to fire departments across the country. Meanwhile, a small group of Sept. 11 family members and firefighters has been protesting outside many of Mr. Giuliani’s campaign appearances.

One of those protesters, Deputy Chief Jim Riches, who lost his firefighter son that day, said Mr. Giuliani did nothing on Sept. 11 to warrant hero status. “He’s making a million dollars a month with his speeches,” said Chief Riches, 55. “It’s blood money.”

Officials with another union, the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, said they planned to work against Mr. Giuliani’s campaign. “I don’t think the person in Nebraska has any idea yet how we feel,” said John J. McDonnell, a battalion chief and president of the association. “He probably assumes that we think he’s great.”

Historically, the New York City firefighters unions have backed presidential candidates from both parties. The International Association of Fire Fighters and the Uniformed Fire Officers Association have endorsed Democratic candidates for president in recent elections, but the union for rank-and-file firefighters, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, endorsed President Bush in 2004. And both the fire officers and the firefighters unions endorsed Mr. Giuliani for re-election in 1997.

There is one group supporting Mr. Giuliani called Firefighters 4 Rudy. But the retired fire captain and talk-radio host who runs it, Matt Bruce, 59, lives in Florida and worked in Oswego in central New York, not in New York City.

Mr. Giuliani’s supporters credit the former mayor with bringing New York back to something approaching normalcy after the attacks. They also applaud his attendance at the funerals, which continued after his term ended in January 2002.

“Even after he left, he’d go to funerals,” said Chief Michael McGrath, who added that Mr. Giuliani had a right to trumpet his role after the Sept. 11 attacks. “He never ran anything but the city, a city that was attacked,” he said. “What do you think he’s going to talk about?”

Some firefighters said that while they believed that Mr. Giuliani shortchanged the Fire Department in failing to give raises to firefighters in 1995 and ’96, what he did for the city as a whole was more important.

Lt. Thomas Farragher, 52, with Ladder 175 in East New York, said, “There’s more to this country than the Fire Department. I have kids. I’m more worried about that than getting a couple dollars more.”

Other favorable opinions of Mr. Giuliani are based on simple encounters. One firefighter recalled that the former mayor handed him a bottle of water at the scene of a fire. “I’ll never forget that,” he said.

Another firefighter, John Orlando, 36, said he regularly saw Mr. Giuliani at fires. “He was always showing up,” he said. “I turn around, and there’s the mayor.”

Among those firefighters who criticized Mr. Giuliani, almost every one of them said they were still angry about the mayor’s decision several weeks after the attacks to reduce the number of firefighters allowed to search for remains at ground zero, where 343 firefighters died.

Until Mr. Giuliani intervened, the Fire Department was in control of the site, searching first for survivors, then for bodies. Mayor Giuliani, heeding the advice of safety experts, would allow no more than 25 firefighters on the site. That was far fewer than in the weeks immediately following the attacks.

Loose girders and construction equipment that was constantly on the move posed a danger to the firefighters, the Giuliani administration said. And thousands of firefighters who had worked at the site had already been treated for chronic chest pain and coughing.

“All of us standing here have friends that continue to remain there,” Mr. Giuliani said at the time. “And we would love to recover them. But none of us standing here can possibly justify seeing a human being die in this effort if it isn’t handled with great discipline and great responsibility.”

The reduced contingent continued to search for bodies. But firefighters felt, in their words, that he had “shut down the pile.” Emotions simmered, and on Nov. 2, a group of firefighters scuffled with police officers who were blocking access to the site.

After that incident, the policy was relaxed to allow fire company members to escort the remains of their colleagues from ground zero. But the anger lingered.

“I think that was the beginning of a job-wide sense that the guy might not be the greatest guy in the world,” said Lt. Simon Ressner, 47.

“He treated firemen like they were common criminals,” Chief Keys said. “He did not get good advice. There was no one there who would dare tell him no. People forget about the details.”

Chief Riches agreed. “We were finding bodies the week before that,” he said. “The bodies didn’t disintegrate. He just wanted to scoop them up, dump them in a truck and get out of there.”

“Meanwhile,” Chief Riches added, “I’m down there on my hands and knees, looking for my son and other firemen.”

Firefighters who support Mr. Giuliani expressed discomfort discussing ground zero and the interruption in the recovery of bodies. Even though some said they disagreed with their colleagues who found Mr. Giuliani’s actions to be unforgivable, they were hesitant to say so.

“I can’t knock them for that,” said Firefighter McCarthy, who lost several friends. “God, it’s their loved ones under there.”

Another firefighter, Kenneth Haskell, 37, lost two brothers, both fellow firefighters, on Sept. 11, but he supported Mr. Giuliani’s decision to scale back the firefighters’ presence at ground zero.

“The site became a very dangerous area,” Firefighter Haskell said, recalling the day a cable snapped and dropped from a crane. “There was a point where the city needed to move forward.” He also praised the city’s decision to continue paying the salaries of the dead firefighters, at overtime rates, long after Sept. 11.

Beyond ground zero, many firefighters cited lingering frustration over the “double zeros” — the contract in which the first two years, 1995 and 1996, brought no raises.

“If he would have given us a half-percent raise with a retroactive check for $32.75, we would have loved him for it,” said Lt. Thomas McGoff, 54.

Some firefighters said that once their opinions of Mr. Giuliani had soured, they found his frequent appearances at 9/11 funerals hard to take.

John Walsh, 48, a firefighter for 21 years, said he had supported Mr. Giuliani early in his tenure. “He’s been riding our coattails since 9/11 like he did something,” Firefighter Walsh said. “He did nothing. He showed up to funerals. So what? He’s a self-promoter. I told my wife, ‘Anything that ever happens, I don’t want him at my funeral.’ ”

But Lieutenant Farragher said he believed that Mr. Giuliani was being sincere when he appeared at a firefighter’s funeral on his last day in office.

“That just struck me,” he said. “He wasn’t looking for press.”